This year I am not using wrapping paper to save the lungs of Mother Earth

reply to post by Carseller4
We are cutting them down faster than they can grow.

Does not make sense.

Why do you think the deserts on earth are expanding?

Research how much our oxygen levels have dropped in the last century.

Trees are literally the lungs of our planet.

You are either a part of the problem or the solution.

reply to post by SpacePunk
By not buying into the Christmas industry we could all save millions of trees. Christmas wrapping and Christmas trees are the industry - not the spirit of the season.

The Christmas Industry was built to get more of your money.

If everyone stopped wrapping Christmas gifts in paper - that alone would save millions of trees.

"It's already there" yes you are right and the more we use the more the Christmas Industry cuts down and makes.

Not buying, not using as much paper as possible sends a message to the money grubbers.

One person cannot make a difference, a million can.

ps: We have a ice shelf the size of Connecticut that has broken off of the antarctic.

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau


The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands. ~Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life, 1923


There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi



[edit on 21-12-2009 by ofhumandescent]

reply to post by AlreadyGone

funny paper. Just as colorful, and folks really enjoy reading the box before opening it.
We cut our own Christmas tree and then we either take it down and use it for firewood or throw it in the lake and use it to create good fishing spots, man those brim and crappie love 'em.

Wow what a good idea! A star for your post.

Thanks for the ideas. Very helpful. Never would have thought fish would like it, but hey it's a natural.

reply to post by lel1111


Thank you. You had the guts to say forthright what I was thinking and hesitant to say.

A star for your post.

Some "souls" are more mature than others. unfortunately many people are not going to understand what is going on with our planet until it is too late.

But, if enough of us care, share and try to positively impact the enviroment we can make a difference.

reply to post by DragonsDemesne
Way cool.

A star for your ingenious post.

Thank you for sharing.

I never would have thought of a ceral box. Very sentimental. Very creative.

reply to post by Wallachian

It takes a few minutes to cut down a tree, it takes decades for a tree to grow.

Forests may be a renewable resource, but the rate at which we are using it is greater than the rate at which its regenerating.

Oh and the greatest thing about trees isn't that we can make things out of them. The greatest things about trees are that they provide us with oxygen, that they harbour ecosystems, they protect the soils, they regulate micro-climates.

A star for your elegant post! You explained it better than I could.

I only wish you could have visited us on our farm, on the hill side where we had a grove of about 14 100-150 ft oaks.

Unbelieveable. These trees (from google earth) still stand (407 Highland Avenue, Kirkwood Missouri)

When I was there, they were at least 150 years old and that was decades ago.

To touch one, the bark ridges were so deep, the trees so tall, the area so magical. You can't imagine the feeling of being among them. I was so blessed and didn't even realize it.

Great idea.

I am saddened by the enormous amount of Christmas cards that my company sends out to people who will probably chuck them without even caring. Or the amount of paper my company shreds on a daily basis.

The amount of companies who seem to think it is appropriate to print every single e-mail for record keeping rather then simply keeping digital backups is also outstanding.

Anyway, I digress. I'm glad to see there are still people out there who don't live in denial. S+F for you.

[edit on 21-12-2009 by Nickmare]

I'm not using wrapping paper either. But I actually never really have. Not because of the environment, but because i'd rather walk on glass than wrap gifts. It's just not my cup of tea. I also never understood why we spend the time wrapping we do preparing gifts with wrapping paper when in literal seconds it becomes trash. Even as a child I thought it was kind of silly.

reply to post by Nickmare


A star for your awareness and support.

Yes I only send out electronic holiday greetings for the past four years now and keep back ups but don't print most of my 500,000 e-mails.

reply to post by ofhumandescent


As someone that was born and raised in Illinois I gotta call horse crap on the 70 ft thing. I've seen dozens of white / black oak over 100ft easy.

Trees can still get 150 ft in Illinois.

reply to post by DaMod


Good, tell me where and I will be there.

Thanks.

A star for your post and another one when you tell me where.

This year, we just left everything in the brown cardboard UPS boxes they were delivered in....all the while feeling good that we were NOT using wrapping paper this year. As we were sitting in front of the tree last night, gloating about how "green" we are, it occurred to me....there is probably 50x more paper product in those brown shipping boxes than there is in the wrapping paper...***SIGH*** Next year it's back to shopping malls....oh, wait, that requires driving which equals carbon emissions...

what to do, what to do?

In the meantime, I shall sit here and hold my breath while awaiting further instruction.

Cool story.

Let me know how that goes, ya know, stopping the coal power plants and 747s. Hopefully it works out.

Ugh...... The screwed up thing is, is you're doing the world a FAVOR by using wrapping paper.

Why? Let's see, because if you don't purchase it it'll get thrown away anyways, and at least the little guys can have that big smile while ravaging the paper.

I'm not one to speak, I come from a family that typically reuses their wrapping paper...heh.

Either way, you not using wrapping paper is making absolutely no difference. Find some that's recycled or something.